Extinction of the Spanish Habsburgs
by LongSnakeMoan
Summary: History weighs heavily on Elsie's mind as she gives birth to her first child.


As the sweat poured down her face, Elsie gave one last desperate scream as pushed her child into the world. Not just a mere child, brought into the world without thought or care like most infants borne by normal women, this child was the sole heir to the vast fortune and influence of his House. It was almost Medieval really, bizarre, that in this age that a family should dwindle by one way or another so its entire existence rested on the future of one weak child. Saul, her husband, was loitering in the anteroom outside her bedroom, in the circles they moved in men did not stay with their wives (or mistresses) as they gave birth to their sons, nor did the women give birth in a _hospital._ Women of her standing did not mix with the little people, even if they were drowning diamonds, those women were so _nouveau riche_. That, and the births tended to attract comment from those who just didn't understand. Nobody would ever understand, not unless you knew their world.

Lost in thought, drowning in a sea of painkillers and a dizzy mix of elation, apprehension and dread, Elsie was barely aware of her child's weak cries and the look that the midwife and obstetrician gave one another. It was only when her child began to let out a high, keening wail she was even aware she was the mother of a living child and a shameful stab of triumph pierced her heart as she thought of Tom and Octavia's sad little roll call of miscarriages and a still birth. Elsie felt her damp hair be stroked away from her head and her weak body gently propped up as she held out her arms for her child. Tentatively the midwife passed her this longed for, gift from heaven child and Elsie looked on her offspring for the first time. From the antechamber Saul, her parents, Tom and Octavia shivered as they her heard her scream.

**Six Years Earlier**

**Mr and Mrs Angier Sloane have the pleasure of inviting you to the wedding of their daughter**

**Elsie Tabitha Charlotte **

**and **

**Mr Saul Sloane**

**Ten Years Earlier**

**Mr and Mrs Oliver Sloane have the pleasure of inviting you the wedding of their daughter**

**Octavia Frances Victoria **

**and**

**Mr Thomas Sloane**

She couldn't stop screaming at the monstrous, horrendous being she had birthed. Its jaw was extended grotesquely and the tongue lolled horribly as the new-born's wail became a screech to match its mother's. She dared not look fully. Elsie dimly became aware of Saul, her husband and first cousin, take the child from her arms and she buried her face into the pillow and let out an agonised, inhuman yell. She knew it was a possibility. The child was passed to her parents, also cousins, and then to her brother and his wife, who was Saul's sister. Her father's parents had been uncle and niece. The Sloane family tree rarely contained an outsider as they married within, desperately trying to the wealth, the power and the influence within the family. Do not dilute the bloodline, forever pure. Gently Saul pulled her from the pillow and pushed the baby into her arms.

"Look at your child, Elsie."

"That is not a child, that is a..a..._monster_."

"Elsie, look at your son."

That was another thing that was archaic about this blue blooded existence of theirs. If she'd given birth to a girl then she might as well not have given birth at all. What use was a girl at this point? But she'd borne her husband, her dynasty, a son and that changed everything. She brought her eyes to the now mewling boy and felt herself smile as that promised maternal instinct blossomed and she stroked his delicate head.

"What are you going to call him, darling girl?" Angier asked as he beamed at pride of his daughter and grandchild, the desired heir to his House.

Elsie and Saul gazed down fondly on their son and they burned with parental pride.

"Charles," she whispered, other dynasties had been saved by a boy called Charles. Or Carlos. Had they been saved, she couldn't decide. Not in the post birth turmoil she was in as the morphine drained from her body. "I want to call him Charles."

**A/N: If you are unsure as to the inspiration for this story then take a quick search to look up Charles II of Spain**


End file.
